Xiaosaurus
Xiaosaurus is a type of small dinosaur that lived during the Middle Jurassic period, around 170 to 163 million years ago. It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants, and it roamed in what is now the Sichuan Basin in China.
**Discovery and Naming**
The first Xiaosaurus fossils were found in the late 1970s and early 1980s near a place called Dashanpu in Sichuan. In 1983, scientists Dong Zhiming and Tang Zilu named this dinosaur Xiaosaurus dashanpensis. The name “Xiaosaurus” comes from the Chinese word for “dawn,” which relates to its ancient age.
The main fossil they studied is known as the holotype, and it includes parts of its skeleton like a jaw bone, some vertebrae (the bones in its back), and leg bones. They also found a second skeleton, called a paratype, which includes different bones like a femur and rib.
**Description**
Xiaosaurus was quite small, probably about 1 meter long, which is roughly the same length as a small child. One of its leg bones, the femur, was about 11 centimeters long.
**Classification**
Classifying Xiaosaurus is tricky because the fossils are not very complete. Some scientists believe it might be related to a family of dinosaurs called Fabrosauridae or Hypsilophodontidae. Others are not so sure and think it might be difficult to classify definitely. However, a study in 2005 suggested that it has some unique features that make it a valid dinosaur genus.
In summary, Xiaosaurus helps us learn more about the diversity of dinosaurs that existed during the Middle Jurassic period and shows us how some early dinosaurs evolved into the forms we recognize today.